Social Media 101 – Fundamentals Part Two

Today we’re going to look Social Media. Social media seems to be today’s buzz. The hottest newest marketing thing, but really it is something you been doing all along. You interact with people, you engage them, you talk with them – remember that phrase with them – you mix all that up and they do business with the people they trust. This is important. This is the way businesses been done for a long time.
Now for the question that is always going to be asked. A question that is going to be asked and seems to be asked over and over again is What’s in it for me?  I’m doing fine. If your business is great and you want to keep it just the way it is, then maybe you would be best to move along because you don’t need changing.
For the rest of us, we look at the marketing plan and make changes or adjustments to adapt to the new world. I don’t claim to be an expert in real estate marketing here but over the years I’ve seen a few things for instance used to be was all about those print ads, all about those thick little free magazines and pictures, pictures, pictures everybody loved it and the people making those magazines loved it lot as you paid money, big money,  sometimes a couple of grand be on the cover or have full-page ads,  Well then came the Internet and now we can put pictures up on the net people can look at it any time,  they can shop for real estate at home. Wow! Then the visual tour’s came in to play. Visual tours were great now you can look around and never go there! And you were staging homes so that they looked oh so good. For a few dollars more all that furniture made them look ever so beautiful. Things changed. And They Continue to change. Now the advance of mobile phones. People are looking on mobile phone and as the net gets faster and faster it is predicted that that this will be marketing of the future. But marketing of the future is one of the things we are all chasing. This, almost drive through technology, is incredible you can now have the entire world in your hand. These devices are getting faster and faster and faster. Just wait and it will be 3-D in your house.  And then the cell phone will be 3-D soon enough and then who 

knows they’ll be a holographic image in front of you that you can walk into to see everything. But that’s the future, we haven’t quite gotten it to comsumer level yet, but it will! Everybody laughs,  but if we just go back a little bit in 1984 the Internet didn’t exist. It does now.
So back to what’s in it for you? And, what’s in it for the consumer as well.
As I look at the marketplace I see a new generation of buyers coming up the new generation of buyers that is heavily connected, incredibly connected,  At a seminar the other day, I was listening to Colin Powell speak. Mr. Powell has managed a lot of people. For a while he managed our entire Armed Forces. And yet what did he talk about? The basics, the basics of interacting with people. The basics of communicating in a way that people understand and can be understood. And with the new generation you don’t get telegrams anymore  and you don’t get a handwritten letter. You might get an e-mail and maybe that e-mail won’t land in a trashcan or spam bucket, but most e-mails end up in the trash as well, albeit electronic trash. So then there’s texting, And Facebook, OMG Facebook and how many friends do you have as a base and then there’s twitter and how many follwer do you have?
It seems that the generation you are in determines to a large part the filter with which you analyze the perceived quality functionality and desirability of a given communication medium now that may sound like a lot of big words, and it is. So let’s take a look at what that means. You see teenagers texting and they text about every little thing. It is a constant stream of communication. From their age group point of view this is necessary communication. From the people on the other end of the age spectrum it seems like drivel, worthless communication. But to them it is their life (I have heard those specific words!).

Now step forward a generation from the teenagers and we have potential market Here we have people who are highly connected. You’ll see Mr. and Mrs. texting each other and often texting more than voicemail.
We now have social media connections to evaluate businesses and people without leaving your home, office or even car.
People who are your potential client, your targeted market, are now targeting you and saying things about you and your business. Are you ready?
Can you take any measure of control?
Can you have any inputs?
How can you find out what is being said, and can you respond?

This is where you can take Action.

I was working with an agent at another company, and for a very small piece of her time, she credits one listing and one sale last year. Well for an hour or two of your time, this seems like a no brainer to me.

So here are the basic recommendations today. Remember these are VERY BASIC. I am always approached by people or agents afterwards, who say oh I have this list and you should deal with this elongated list of social media sites. ‘There is more than on way to skin a cat’ as the old saying goes, or in modern terms ‘results may vary’ or as I like it in chef’s terms ‘meat and fire, so many combinations’. Although there are many ways to do anything, here is my advice, take action on what you can do. Do a little daily or weekly and things will change.
This is where the  analysis stops and the action begins. You know, this is where the rubber meets the road!

First: Get a linkedin account at LINKEDIN.com and fill our your profile to 100%. Include a good profile picture, and a fully described history of education and business jobs and responsibilities. Include all awards and memberships. Join a few related groups on linked in and participate. Get a few hundred connections. I helped a CEO at one corporation and he listed every job back to paper boy! It was a good move and shows an open and trusting environment. Ask for endorsements from your prior co-workers / bosses / customers. Cost ZERO dollars, your time (a few hours total – put in at 15 min a session)

Second: Create a login to YELP.com and verify your business, and be sure it has good information about your business. claim your business  to seal off future updates to you. Now for the Real Estate business – Look up real estate agents. – Do you exist? if so claim yourself and update the information. If not add yourself as a Real Estate Agent, and Real Estate Services, and update that business.  and Ask you best clients for reviews / ratings.  Do not rate yourself. Rate other businesses. remember Dale Carnegie? Rule one from him in How to win friends and influence people was Don’t criticize, condemn or complain. If you have a problem with a business, deal directly with them. If you have something nice to say, put it in a review on the net. Don’t cast complaints in concrete. It is important for your credibility that you put in reviews of other businesses you have dealt with directly. This could include, escrow companies, plumbers, pest control, restaurants, parks, hardware stores, or any business. As you put in ratings for others you are helping their business and increasing your credibility. Be Careful, this is not a complaint space.

There are many more sites to work with and we will get to them in due time.

Please, Be patient, and please do your homework.

Step one: Linkedin.com

• Step two: Yelp.com

Thats all for today. When you finish this assignment we can go on the the next part.
As Always
Charley Carlin
@CharleyCarlin on Twitter
www.charleycarlin.com

Social Media 101 – Where to begin? Part One

The term social media has sure been thrown around a lot these days. Everyone is an expert, can handle everything, or knows someone who “can handle everything for you.” Well all those people exist and all have a solution for you, typically at a price, with associated promises as to the incredible value for you and your company. Sometimes the solution pitched out is simply ‘I can create you a Facebook page’. Who can argue with that, especially if you are lost about what to do and the person talking is someone you know, or a friend of someone you know. But in the American Economy where many believe if you don’t pay a lot for something how can it be worth anything causes other problems. This mind set has pushed many a business to get ensnarled in long term contracts and big monthly fees that leave them wondering where the ROI is hidden, or even if there is any ROI to be found. What a conondrum? A Puzzle at best. And this leaves many a business person scratching their head.

With that said, I would like to clarify the target audience a bit. This post, which will most likely turn into a series of posts, is directed at the small businesses and independent consultants across the nation who want a bit more visibility and a bit more business with out mortgaging the farm to get there. These are the millions of businesses that work in a given city or county, have been delievering solid products of services for years and want to continue to move their work into the 21st century. This series of posts is also for the millions of small non-profits that have little or no budget, but want to move their cause or organization forward. The have found a volunteer who says that they can do it, and are wondering if it is the right move. Having come in and cleaned up some of these volunteer creations, I encourage business people, consultants, and non-profits to take a bit of time investigating and defining the basic foundational building blocks of social media. Look before you leap is a old adage and it is oh so relevant here today.

So what is social media? Well, we are all sitting around the campfire, telling stories and telling lies. We are all talking together, and some people in the circle are just talking together two, or three, or four in smaller groups, but we all kinda know each other around the campfire. Some we know some of the people more, some we know less, but we are all together. This is what is happenning in Google Circles and Facebook. There are conversations with some people and groups of various sizes. Participation in these conversations is part of what is done in social marketing. It is something everyone has been doing in business forever. Now we need to tune in and tune up for the new campfire, the internet.

See you in the next post where we will converse more about social media fundamentals and the foundational steps that are needed in to stimulate your social media presence.

As Always
Charley Carlin
@CharleyCarlin on Twitter
www.charleycarlin.com

How is Your Business Rated? You better check!

Ratings for Your Business

When chatting with your customers, it goes without saying to listen to what they have to tell you, but if they are raving about your service or product the it is the right time to encourage them to rate your business on YELP.com, TripAdvisor.com, UrbanSpoon.com,FourSquare.com and Google.com. Ask clients what you can do better and if they dislike your service or products, these are the key people to get direct feed back from to enable you to answer their problems or fix your service or product. Likewise you must rate other businesses that you deal with and like their products. The ratings on these site is important to your business. Trip Adviser is very important if you have international customers (Hotels and Restaurants). They are paid attention to by people outside the United States and affect their decisions when traveling in the USA.

A note on Yelp Ratings, Google Ratings, TripAdviser Ratings for you. You will over time collect ratings for your business. Hopefully they will all be good, however, some people use these sites as a place to post complaints. Some business people use this as an excuse or reason not to use these site. Whether you use them or not, they are there and the world is using them. With this in mind you must leverage these sites to your business advantage. If your have 99 wonderful ratings and 1 garbage rating, don’t worry too much as people tend to see that the complainer has usually only done one rating and has no friends on the given website. Additionally the 99 wonderful ratings will leave your overall average very very high. If you only have 3 ratings and some are up and some are down, your overall rating will 

suffer. On these sites the business owner can sometimes respond to the rating and done it an answer the problem and respond to it straightforwardly fashion can actually show true concern for all customers. So check your ratings often, respond to any perceived problems, and move forward.

Now in the town where you live and do business (whether the same or different) there are business you deal with and some you like, maybe some you don’t like as well. Here is an important tip. Sometimes people think it is important to complain about competitors, or other people you may not care about. My take is simple. Rate the ones you like. Rate the ones you want to stay in business. Say something good or move on. As the old adage goes, ‘If you can’s say something nice, don’t say anything at all.’ or in the words of Dale Carnegie from “How to win friends and Influence People” ‘Don’t criticize condemn or complain.’ Help the businesses you love, like, and want to stay operational. Your ratings count and we all need to do our part of the rating system as well. The world and other businesses needs our opinions too! More to come, just follow me on Twitter and you will receive immediate notice of Blog Updates

As Always
Charley Carlin
Twitter @CharleyCarlin
www.charleycarlin.com